Linking the preference in a bilateral asymmetric task with handedness, footedness, and eyedness: The case of ice-hockey

Most people know whether they are left-handed or right-handed, and usually base this assessment on preferences during one-handed tasks. There are several manual tasks that require the contribution of both hands, in which, in most cases, each hand plays a different role. In this specific case, holding an ice-hockey stick is particularly interesting because the hand placement may have an incidence on the playing style. In this study (n = 854), the main objective was to determine to what extent the way of holding an ice-hockey stick is associated with other lateralized preferences. Amongst the 131 participants reporting a preference for the left hand in unilateral tasks, 70.2% reported a preference for shooting right (placing the right hand in the middle of the stick); and amongst the 583 participants reporting a preference for writing with the right hand, 66.2% reported a preference for shooting left. 140 (16.4%) participants were classified as ambidextrous and 61.4% of them reported a preference for shooting right. This preference on the ice-hockey stick is closely correlated (uncrossed preference) to the way one holds a rake, shovel, or broom, or a golf club, but inversely related to the way one holds an ax and a baseball bat. The link between the way of holding the ice-hockey stick and eyedness or footedness is weak. These results are contrasted with the results reported by Loffing et al. (2014) and reveal the need to clarify the exact nature and requirements of the targeted tasks when studying bilateral asymmetric preferences.

Relevant text from manuscript Title and abstract 1 (a) Indicate the study's design with a commonly used term in the title or the abstract 2 In this study (n = 854), the main objective was to determine to what extent the manner of holding a hockey stick could be predicted based on other lateralized preferences.Amongst the 201 participants reporting a preference for writing with the left hand, 77.6% reported a preference for shooting right (placing the right hand in the middle of the stick); and amongst the 621 participants reporting a preference for writing with the right hand, 67,0% reported a preference for shooting left.This preference on hockey stick is closely related to the way one holds a rake, shovel, or broom (rspb > .80),or a golf club (rpb = .72),but inversely related to the way one holds an ax (rpb = -.52), a baseball bat  [1917][1918][1919][1920][1921][1922][1923][1924][1925][1926]   For all of the analyses, it is intended to determine if the overall observations apply equally to male and female participants.In our sample, we have more people writing with their left hand than people throwing with their left hand.The writing hand is a slightly better predictor of which side one shoots in ice hockey than the hand with which one throws.However, even based on the writing hand, the choice of the grip of the hockey stick remains very variable.Indeed, while the correlation between a given unimanual task and a bimanual task is generally negative (for example, writing right would predict shooting left in hockey), there are two noticeable exceptions: when using an ax or batting in baseball.These two tasks are closely related to each other (rpb = .82),and negatively related to the placement of hands in ice hockey (rpb = -.52).The case of baseball is a documented one in the study of laterality, the game being highly lateralized [14], [15] and involving a power/control trade-off [16].

Study
Contrary to the other bimanual tasks included in the study, when using an ax and a baseball bat, hands are very close to one another.This position likely favors the expression of power; there is no such power need when using a broom or a rake (some force is needed when shoveling).But the distance between hands does not explain all preferences, considering that in golf, the hands are also close to each other and the correlation with baseball (rpb = -.63) and using an ax (rpb = -.60) is negative, but positive with ice hockey (rpb = .71).This difference is even more noticeable that the golf club, the ax, and the baseball bat have a common characteristic: they are shorter than the tools used for other bimanual activities.Another difference between the cases of the baseball bat and ax, and the rest of bimanual activities in the study, is the fact that the latter tools require to deal with something that is on the ground (for instance, puck, leaves, snow).It is also noteworthy that for the ax, baseball, and golf, the correlations with the preferred writing hand are very low (|rpb| < .24),but there seems to be a sex difference for the strength of the link only for using an ax or a baseball bat.
Baseball, golf, and ice hockey share the characteristic of being practiced activities.Compared to shoveling or raking leaves, sports are repeated and (b) Provide in the abstract an informative and balanced summary of what was done and what was found 2 background and rationale for the investigation being reported 3-5 Most people can tell their left from their right and know, almost spontaneously, whether they are left-handed or rightor right wingers, left or right defenders); the combination of the position occupied on the ice rink and the way of holding

Finally
match of eye and hand preferences may, for example, grant an advantage in sports, at least in the case of duels for one of 40 $50shopping cards at a bookstore.Therefore, authors had access to information that could identify individual participants during or after data collection to be able to contact them if they won the draw.Setting 5 Describe the setting, locations, and relevant dates, including periods of recruitment, exposure, follow-up, and data collection 7-8 Participants were recruited mainly via the mailing list of Université Laval (students and staff), social media, an announcement on a national radio at the end of an interview of the first author on laterality, the mailing list of the Society for International Hockey Research, the mailing list of the Société Québécoise pour la recherche en psychologie, contact with college hockey teams, and by word of mouth.The 23 questions were available online on the Limesurvey platform.Anyone from the general population could respond.Participants had first to read a consent form and agree to participate, and then take approximately 10 minutes to respond to all questions.Participants were then entered into a draw for one of 40 $50shopping cards at a bookstore.Therefore, authors had access to information that could identify individual participants during or after data collection to be able to contact them if they won the draw.Participants 6 (a) Cohort study-Give the eligibility criteria, and the sources and methods of selection of participants.Describe methods of follow-up Case-control study-Give the eligibility criteria, and the sources and methods of case ascertainment and control selection.Give the rationale for the choice of cases and controls Cross-sectional study-Give the eligibility criteria, and the sources and methods of selection of participants

A
biserial-point correlation was calculated for quantifying the link between each of the lateralized tasks measured.Also, stepwise logistic regressions were conducted to predict the side a person shoots in ice hockey based on the hand with which they write, throw or a combination of both.(b) Describe any methods used to examine subgroups and interactions (c) Explain how missing data were addressed N/A (d) Cohort study-If applicable, explain how loss to follow-up was addressed Case-control study-If applicable, explain how matching of cases and controls was addressed Cross-sectional study-If applicable, describe analytical methods taking account of Report numbers of individuals at each stage of study-eg numbers potentially eligible, examined for eligibility, confirmed eligible, included in the study, completing follow-up, and analysed Give characteristics of study participants (eg demographic, clinical, social) and information on exposures and potential confounders 6 A total of 854 people filled out the questionnaire between August 2020 and August 2022: 425 females, 422 males, and 7 non-binary people, see

Table 1 .
(b) Cohort study-For matched studies, give matching criteria and number of exposed and unexposed Case-control study-For matched studies, give matching criteria and the number of controls per

Table 1 .
The average age was 33.9